Daily Yellowstone journal., 1887-12-15
AN AUSTRALIANS CHAT.
sGath's" Interesting Conversation with
a Citizen OF the Antipodal Continent.


Going out to the coast were some Aus
tralians, with one of whom, named
George Walker, hotel keeper in Mel
bourne, l talked parts of several days to
the following effect:
"When did you leave Australia"
LAST May. When l reach home.
about Oct. 20, shall have crossed the
equator twice and been around the
world. The fare from Melbourne TO Eng
land by Suez is nearly the same as from
England by the United States back to
Melbourne; say e70 each way, or 500
around the globe. l have spent in the
five months of my absence $500. have
not been to England before for ten years,
and can hardly 60 again for five years
more. My brother came out to America
with me and went home from Chicago" "
"Only at Alden, in the Red sea, and we
tied up at night in the Suez canal, be-
cause we carried no electric light. lgot
off at Naples and came overland to Lon
don. The ship touches at Plymouth
first, and then comes up the Thames to
Gravesend. Going back, we shall stop
at Honolulu and at Auckland, New
Zealand. II is a tedious job crossing the
equator, and for a fortnight we are In a
languid sweat. Still, we do not feel so
far out of the world as you might sup
pose, since we have an ocean cable and
get the news from everywhere daily.
There are two regular lines of steamers,
the Peninsular and Oriental and the San
Francisco line, besides French and Ger
man service"
.'How is the railroad service, compara-
tivelyI"
Better than in Europe. But in Aus
tralia the government of each province
owns all the railways. We have no cor
poraton railways at all. The Victoria
railways pay nearly 5 per cent. Those
of New South Wales pay only 2 per
cent.-hardly that. But you see, Mel
bourne city has 4OO,0 900 people"
"Then. l suppose, you have no exces-
sively rich men, since you have no rail-
way magnates?"
"God bless your soul, we have got one
man worth $4,000, 900. He is a money
lender; old Money Miller he is called,
aged now 81 years. The poor fellow is a
skindint. Ten per cent. is low interest
for him. He made most Of his money
going security for the administrators of
trust estates, where securities are required
of double the sum involved. The law
plays directly into the old fellows hands
unconsciously. We have large line of
wealthy men; real estate in Melbourne is
enormously high. l thought TO buy
piece Of ground ten miles from the city,
Of only twenty-five acres. but the price
asked was $4,000. II afterward sold for
three times that amount. In the best
parts of Melbourne ground is e1, 200 the
front foot, lois 200 feet deep"
Have you got universal suffrage?"
"Yes. That is the trouble with us.
Our speaker of assembly, Sir Peter
Lalor, is the representative Of the rough
element. Some years ago he was a pro-
claimed rebel having resisted the collec-
tion Of the government tax on miners.
But without him and some other such
natural leaders of headstrong forces, /
suppose we should not get along at all.
The effect of universal suffrage is to
make men vote into Office people whom
they like rather than people they should
like. One fellow gives dinner to every
constituent another buys up the bosses
of a district. The society of Australia
compared to that of England is like a
perpetual picnic. Those who stay after
they have made their pile are those who
find England dull and distasteful.
"How do your colonies compare?"
"New South Wales, or Sydney, is the
old, conservative, jealous, parent state.
Melbourne is the American state of Aus
tralia. Their leading politician calls us
a mere cabbage garden, alluding to our
raising table vegetables for Sydney. We
generally carry away anything valuable
or cnterprising, such as the colonial ex-
hibition of next year. South Wales has
a good city, Adelaide, of near 100, 900
people. Perth is the young emporium
offNest Australia; Brisbane is the chief
city Of Queensland, where now is a good
deal Of land speculation. Victoria is the
high tariff state, whilst Sydney is the
free trade port.
"We have a duty Of above 81 per
cent. on machinery, so that $500 worth
costs above its value TO import near $40.
We had piece Of public work TO do re-
Gently where the home bid was eos, 900
more than the English bid, yet the min
ister gave the work to the home bidders,
and they were unable to complete it, so
that it had finally TO be sent abroad, after
ali"
docs Sydney grow faster than Mel
bourne?"
IL think Sydney has been growing
rather faster Of late, although the gen.
eral movement Of the two states is in
favor of Melbourne. which is 500 miles
farther south, and therefore colder and
much more energetic. You see our cold
climate is the southern. Our cold wind
comes from the south pole. onr spring
is next month, October, and our summer
is January. The sun rises differently TO
us from its course overhead in Europe
and America. We have climate alter
mated by sitting heat from the north and
cold blows from the south, which we call
our southern busters. George Alfred
i